Oral Health for Infants, Children, Adolescents, and Pregnant Women: Knowledge Path describes current, high-quality resources that analyze data, describe effective programs, and report on policy and research.

Be an Oral Health Champion is a booklet geared toward Head Start staff. The booklet is designed to help Head Start staff become aware of problems children with poor oral health may experience and to provide them with ideas for how they can promote optimal oral health and prevent oral disease in young children.

Also available as a poster to download and print.

• Two Healthy Smiles: Tips to Keep You and Your Baby Healthy
• Dos sonrisas saludables: Consejos para mantenerte a ti y a tu bebé sanos

• A Healthy Smile for Your Baby: Tips to Keep Your Baby Healthy
• Una sonrisa saludable para tu bebé: Consejos para mantener sano a tu bebé

• A Healthy Smile for Your Young Child: Tips to Keep Your Child Healthy
• Una sonrisa saludable para tu niño pequeño: Consejos para mantener sano a tu niño

Caries Prevention, Risk Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment is a series of five modules that provide a framework for assessing an individual's risk for dental caries and determining prevention, treatment, and education strategies based on that individual's risk category. The modules also include information about dental caries prevention, examination, restorative treatment, and recall intervals.

School-Based Dental Sealant Programs is a curriculum designed to provide school-based dental sealant program staff with an understanding of the history, operations, and underlying principles of programs funded by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). Contents include guidelines for infection control; tooth selection and assessment for dental sealants; the dental sealant application process; and program operations, with an emphasis on the specific requirements that apply to programs funded by ODH.

The Oral Health Resource Bulletin is a series that provides information about current materials of interest. A brief synopsis and acquisition information is provided for each item.

• Volume XXII (November)
• Volume XXI (April)

Oral Health Care for Young Children is a series of four modules that provide clinicians with information about prevention, risk assessment, and anticipatory guidance.Behavior management, providing restorative treatment, and managing emergency dental care are also addressed.

Financial Management for Safety Net Dental Clinics is a series of five self-study modules that present clinic staff with information about strategic planning; revenue; expenses; managing finances; and grants, contracts, and fundraising. The modules provide information about developing a business plan and include links to a budget-planning spreadsheet that allows users to enter and analyze data and save the analysis of the financial impacts of different decisions, assumptions, and costs. Guidance is offered on estimating revenue and expenses, developing a budget, and assessing financial sustainability.

Clinical Operations for Safety Net Dental Clinics is a series of six modules provide detailed guidelines for developing a policies and procedures manual, developing a staff handbook, and recruiting and retaining staff. The modules also present information on the importance of health records, including their vital role in malpractice cases, and on how to efficiently purchase, stock, and track supplies. In addition, the modules contain detailed information on effective appointment scheduling and on how to handle hazardous substances and plan for emergencies in the clinic setting.

Dental Hygienists and Head Start: What You Should Know and How You Can Help provides information about how dental hygienists can help address the oral health needs of pregnant women, infants, and children enrolled in Head Start.

The Oral Health Resource Bulletin is a series that provides information about current materials of interest. A brief synopsis and acquisition information is provided for each item.

Volume XX

Research to Policy and Practice Forum: Periodontal Health and Birth Outcomes is a report from a December 2006 forum that addressed the relationship between periodontal health and birth outcomes. Meeting materials are also posted online.

Oral Health Tip Sheets for Head Start Staff outline strategies to comply with Head Start Program Performance Standards involving an ongoing source of continuous, accessible care; the recommended schedule of preventive and primary care visits; family partnerships; education; and community partnerships.

• Working with Parents to Improve Access to Oral Health Care[archived]
• Working with Health Professionals to Improve Access to Oral Health Care [archived]

• Pediatric Dental Disease: A Critical Marker for Children's Overall Health. (1998). [archived] This paper discusses oral disease within the broad spectrum of overall health. It suggests that tooth decay may serve as a sentinel disease for other pediatric conditions related to inadequate diet and hygiene, self-esteem and personal well-being, family conditions, and ability to access care.
• The Cost of Caring: Emergency Oral Health Services. (1998). [archived] This policy brief examines the issue of emergency rooms being used as a primary source of oral health care for children from families with low incomes, who access such care only when oral problems have become severe.
• Crisis in Care: The Facts Behind Children's Lack of Access to Medicaid Dental Care. (1998). [archived] This policy brief examines the hidden facts surrounding tooth decay, the reasons that tooth decay is an important policy problem, who "owns" the problem, the role of Medicaid, and the actions that need to be taken.
• Creating a Dental Network (Make or Buy?) and Selecting a Dental Vendor. (1998). [archived] This paper summarizes the requirements of a dental program, compares the differences between medical and dental managed care delivery, and discusses whether to "make" or "buy" a dental program (i.e., whether to develop the internal capabilities or to contract with a qualified vendor to develop and manage such a program).